LESSON I—FOREWORDImportant information which all women should possess, but which few are giventhe opportunity of acquiring. The necessity of rational instruction on SexPhysiology, Sex Anatomy, and Sex Hygiene. The danger of false informationfrom polluted sources. The conventional taboo against Sex Knowledge, which isinherited by the race from the Middle Ages. The Reign of Prurient Prudery.Ignorance of Sex Science is a frequent cause of immorality, and the real reasonof marital inharmony and unhappiness. The special need of Sex Instruction onthe part of women. The sex-life of the woman is fuller and more complex thanthat of the man, hence her special need of sane information on the subject.Nature's handicap on woman 7LESSON II—ANATOMY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANISMLESSON III—PHYSIOLOGY OF THE FEMALE SEX ORGANISMLESSON IV—GESTATION OR PREGNANCYLESSON V—GENERAL ADVICE TO WOMEN ON SEX SUBJECTSLESSON VI—THE SCIENCE OF EUGENICSLESSON VII—PRENATAL INFLUENCESLESSON VIII—EUGENICS AND CHARACTERLESSON IX—THE DETERMINATION OF SEXLESSON X—WHAT BIRTH CONTROL IS, AND IS NOTLESSON XI—THE FETICH OF THE BIRTH RATELESSON XII—THE ARGUMENT FOR BIRTH CONTROLLESSON XIII—THE ARGUMENT AGAINST BIRTH CONTROLLESSON XIV—RACE SUICIDELESSON XV—BIRTH CONTROL METHODS
Doncaster says "The general conclusion with regard to man must therefore be that if sex is determined solely by the spermatozoon there is no hope either of influencing or predicting it in special cases. On the other hand, there is
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It is possible that there are two kinds of ova, as well as two kinds of spermatozoa, and that there is a selective fertilization of such a kind that one kind of spermatozoon only fertilizes one kind of ovum, the second kind of spermatozoon the second kind of ovum. If this should prove to be the case, it is possible that means might be found of influencing or predicting that kind of ovum which is discharged under any set of conditions. Secondly, it is possible that the ova are potentially all alike, but that their physiological condition may under some circumstances be so altered that the sex is determined independently of the spermatozoon. * * * It is hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that the sex of the
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The search for means of influencing the sex of the offspring through the mother is not of necessity doomed to failure. No results of a really positive kind have been obtained hitherto, and some of the facts point so clearly to sex-determination by the male germ-cell alone in man and other animals that many investigators have concluded that the quest is hopeless; but until an adequate explanation has been given of certain phenomena discovered in the investigation of the subject, it seems more reasonable to maintain an open mind, and to regard the control of sex in man as an achievement not entirely impossible of realization."
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Another writer on the subject has said: "Every individual among the higher animals, whether male or female, begins as an impregnated ovum in the mother's body. Any such ovum contains elements of constitution from both of its parents. In the earliest existence of this impregnated ovum, there is a season of sexual indifference, or indecision, in which the embryo is both male and female, having the characteristic rudiments of each sex, only indifferently manifested. In this stage, the embryo is susceptible of being influenced by external conditions to develop more strongly in the one or the other direction and thus become distinctly and permanently male or female. It is evident that this is the season in the development of the individual in which influencing conditions and causes must operate in deciding its sex, although it is possible in some of the lower animals to alter the tendency of sex in the
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